Fermentation

Fermentation is a process involving the biochemical activity of organisms, during their growth,
development, reproduction even senescence and death. The major products o fermentation
technology produced economically on a large scale industrial basis are wine, beer, cider, vinegar,
ethanol, cheese, hormones, antibiotics, complete proteins, enzymes and other useful products.

BREWING PROCESS

Beer is the worlds most widely consumed and probably the oldest alcoholic beverage, it is also
the third most popular drink overall, after the tea and water. The production of beer is called
brewing. In brewery process it undergoes milling, mashing, lautering, boiling, whirlpooling, cooling,
fermentation, and conditioning/maturing.

Milling

Milling or crushing the grain is the important step can make or break a beer before it has even
begun. The key is to crush the grains enough so that it exposes the starchy center of the barley
seed without damaging the grain hulls that encase them. If the crush is too fine, the husk, which
act as a filter bed for the brew will be destroyed, and the brew will become gummy and unusable.

Mashing

After milling the grain it is transferred in a large vessel called the mash tun, and mixed with hot
water to form mash. The heat from the water activates the enzymes within the barley. This
enzyme converts the starches in the grain into sugar. Since there are several types of enzymes
within the barley, each with a preferred temperature at which they like to work, brewer monitor the
mash temperature extremely close. By raising and lowering the temperature of the mash, they can
also control what type of sugar is produced by the enzymes. At lower temperature, highly
fermentable sugar is created, resulting dry beers. At higher temperature, the sugars arent as
easily digested by the yeast, resulting in a beer with some sugars left unfermented, and thus a
sweeter, more full-bodied end product. The enzymes work quickly too. Within an hour they will be
done converting starch to sugar, at which point the brewer will end the enzymatic activity by
raising the temperature of the mash to over 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lautering

In lautering process the mash is transferred to a vessel with a false bottom called launter tun. Here
the clear wort (sugary liquid) is drained away from the hulls and barley grist. Water is also added
during lautering, in order to extract even more of the fermentable sugars from the grain. This is
known as sparging. Sparging must be done very gradually as to not disrupt the grain bed that acts
as a natural filter for the wort. Brewer typically add sparge water at the same rate as the wort is
being drained below.

Boiling

Once the sweet wort has been separated from the grains, it is brought to a strong, prolonged boil
for one to two hours. This boiling process is critical for many reasons. Boiling does more than
sterilize the brew, however, hops introduced to boiling water will begin to breakdown, or isomerize,
molecularly altering the composition of the acids within the hops and releasing bitterness into the
beer. The longer the hops are boiled, the more of their alpha acids will be isomerized in order to
lend bitterness to the brew. Hops are allowed to boil with beer within an hour or more. If the boiling
wort exposed in short period of time or at a lower temperature hops will release oils and lend
aromatics and flavour to beers. To extract the flavour it needs to add hops 10-15 minutes before
the end boil. For aroma, hops are added even later or not more than 2 minutes before the end of
the boil.

Whirlpooling

A method used in separating hops from wort after the wort boil. Essentially the wort is pumped into
the whirlpool vessel at rapid velocity, usually about 5 feet per second, to cause the wort to start
spinning like a whirlpool. The pumping process last for 20 minutes to allow the hops to form a
compact pile in the center of the vessel.The wort is easily to separate from the pile by pumping it
out to an outlet located on the side of the vessel.

Cooling

Cooling the beer quickly is important, since the beer will begin to oxidize and produce off flavors
almost immediately at the same temperature.

Fermentation
Fermenting worth is a manifestation of metabolism of brewer yeast, which is added after the
oxidation to the wort. Immediately after it is cooled to the fermentation temperature and pumped to
the fermentation vessel. The brewer yeast is used to convert sugar to alcohol.

Two main fermentation technologies for beer

1. The bottom fermentation of beer

The style of bottom fermenting includes all bottom fermentation beer using saccharomyces
uvarum or the lager. Bottom beer fermentation is carried out at the temperature of 6-12 degree
Celsius and last for 6-12 days. For a month or longer they lie at subzero temperature which
ensure the dispersion of sulphur compounds created at primary fermentation. At these
temperatures, lager yeasts grow less rapidly than ale yeasts, and with less surface foam they
tend to settle out to the bottom of the fermenter as fermentation nears completion. This is why
 they are often referred to as "bottom" yeasts. The final flavour of the beer will depend a great
deal on the strain of lager yeast and the temperatures at which it was fermented.

2. The top fermentation of beer

The stage of top fermentation includes all top fermented beers, usually by yeast
saccharomyces pastorianus. This is includes ales, poster, stout, altbier, trappist, or wheat beer.
Top fermentation process is carried out at the temperature of 15-24 degree Celsius and last for
3-9 days. In most cases, there is foam in the surface of the fermenting beer cause by the rising
CO2 together with the yeast. That is the reason why there are grouped in colonies live at the
surface of the wort. And at high fermentation temperature it causes more floweriness of the
final beer. Top fermented beervary in flavors and often find exotic aromas (cloves, banana,
grapes, etc.) although the brewer did not add such ingredients to the beer.

Conditioning/Maturing

Once the yeast has consumed all the available sugars, primary fermentation is over. While the
beer is technically no longer fermenting, the yeasts work is far from over. During the course of
fermentation, several off flavors are created in addition to the production of alcohol and carbon
dioxide. In conditioning the ales it takes a week or so, while the lager takes months. Since, lager
generally work slowly, and to help this to speed up some lagers brewer employ the practice of
krausening, which is adding still fermented wort. The yeast have worked their way through the off
flavor, it becomes dormant and begins to settle to the bottom of the fermentation vessel. From
here the yeast can be easily to remove leaving only a bright and clear beer. Lastly the beer
undergo filtration or by adding filtering agents which help to collect the yeast into larger groups.
The conversion of corn into ethanol

Ethanol is produced from corn by two standard processes: wet milling and dry milling. The
products of each type are utilized in different ways. The central difference between the two
processes is how they initially treat the grain. In wet milling, the corn grain is steeped in water, and
then separated for processing in the first step. Dry milling, which is more common, requires a
different process. According to a report by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, "Over 80%
of U.S. ethanol is produced from corn by the dry grind process."

Dry milling

In dry milling, the entire corn kernel or other starchy grain is first ground into flour, which is referred
to in the industry as meal and processed without separating out the various component parts of
the grain. The meal is slurried with water to form a mash. Enzymes are added to the mash to
convert the starch to dextrose, a simple sugar. Ammonia is added for pH control and as a nutrient
to the yeast.
The mash is processed in a high-temperature cooker to reduce bacteria levels ahead of
fermentation. The mash is cooled and transferred to fermenters where yeast is added and the
conversion of sugar to ethanol and carbon dioxide (CO2) begins.
The fermentation process generally takes about 40 to 50 hours. During this part of the process,
the mash is agitated and kept cool to facilitate the activity of the yeast. After fermentation, the
resulting beer is transferred to distillation columns where the ethanol is separated from the
remaining stillage. The ethanol is concentrated to 190 proof using conventional distillation and
then is dehydrated to approximately 200 proof in a molecular sieve system.
The anhydrous ethanol is then blended with about 5% denaturant (such as natural gasoline) to
render it undrinkable and thus not subject to beverage alcohol tax. It is then ready for shipment to
gasoline terminals or retailers.
The stillage is sent through a centrifuge that separates the coarse grain from the solubles. The
solubles are then concentrated to about 30% solids by evaporation, resulting in Condensed
Distillers Solubles (CDS) or syrup. The coarse grain and the syrup are then dried together to
produce dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), a high quality, nutritious livestock feed. The
CO2 released during fermentation is captured and sold for use in carbonating soft drinks and
beverages and the manufacture of dry ice.

Wet milling

In wet milling, the grain is soaked or steeped in water and dilute sulfurous acid for 24 to 48
hours. This steeping facilitates the separation of the grain into its many component parts.
After steeping, the corn slurry is processed through a series of grinders to separate the corn germ.
The corn oil from the germ is either extracted on-site or sold to crushers who extract the corn oil.
The remaining fiber, gluten and starch components are further segregated using centrifugal,
screen and hydroclonic separators.
The steeping liquor is concentrated in an evaporator. This concentrated product, heavy steep
water, is co-dried with the fiber component and is then sold as corn gluten feed to the livestock
industry. Heavy steep water is also sold by itself as a feed ingredient and is used as a component
in Ice Ban, an environmentally friendly alternative to salt for removing ice from roads.
The gluten component (protein) is filtered and dried to produce the corn gluten meal co-product.
This product is highly sought after as a feed ingredient in poultry broiler operations.
The starch and any remaining water from the mash can then be processed in one of three ways:
fermented into ethanol, dried and sold as dried or modified corn starch, or processed into corn
syrup. The fermentation process for ethanol is very similar to the dry mill process.
UNIVERSITY OF MINDANAO
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

FERMENTATION TECHNOLOGY

Submitted to:
ENGR. JERALYN G. CABOTAJE

Submitted by:
ELYSA DEOCADES